Democrats are lying to Americans about abortion. They are both dishonest about where Republicans stand on the issue and misrepresenting their own position. Since they intend to make abortion a key issue in the 2024 election, it is important to set the record straight.
Simply put, most Republicans are moving toward where the majority of Americans are, wanting abortion to be legal but limited to the first 15 weeks of pregnancy. For proof, look no further than the stance of former president Donald Trump, who is leading the GOP primary race by a wide margin; he has called Florida’s six-week abortion ban “terrible” and is pushing back against a nationwide law outlawing the procedure.
Democrats, though they deny it, seek to make abortion access available through the entire nine months of pregnancy That is abhorrent.
Vice President Harris’s husband, Doug Emhoff, told a group of supporters that the 2024 presidential race will be about “Dobbs and democracy”; the White House certainly hopes that will be the case, given their abysmal approval ratings on the economy, immigration, crime and every other matter critical to voters.
Given the outcome of the most recent elections, it makes sense for Democrats to pursue their one winning issue. Axios reports: “After Ohio’s vote Tuesday to protect abortion rights, Democrats are rushing to get similar measures on the ballot next year in key states such as Arizona, Nevada and Florida — partly to boost President Biden and down-ballot Democrats.”
Getting abortion resolutions on ballots in critical swing states would help Democrats turn out young voters who otherwise might not show up and who are now defecting from Joe Biden in droves. The recent New York Times/Siena poll that showed Biden losing to former president Trump in five key swing states also showed Uncle Joe barely ahead with young voters — a group favored him by 26 points in 2020.
Democrats’ crusade on abortion rights may be politically sensible, but it is fueled by deception.
Hakeem Jeffries, minority leader in the House, recently told an MSNBC reporter the GOP wants “to criminalize abortion care … [and] create a society where women have to live in a place with government-mandated pregnancies.”
While there are some GOP candidates who favor outlawing abortion entirely, most are pressing for “safe, legal and rare,” as Bill Clinton once said.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, for instance, campaigned on limiting abortion to the first 15 weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother. That is the norm in European countries, guided by the moment during gestation when the fetus can feel pain and also by the ever-earlier date when a baby can survive outside the womb. It is the sensible middle ground on abortion, supported by the majority of Americans.
According to Gallup, only 13 percent of Americans think abortion should always be illegal; 51 percent say it should be legal “only under certain circumstances.” The latter position is where Republicans like presidential candidate Nikki Haley and Youngkin are moving.
Importantly, a majority of Americans oppose allowing abortions during the second (55 percent) and third (70 percent) trimesters. Democrats disagree.
In 2021, all 49 Democrats in the Senate voted for H. R. 3755, a bill titled “Women’s Health Protection Act of 2021.” The bill would have passed the Senate but was blocked by Joe Manchin of West Virginia. The New York Times reported at the time that the bill would “enshrine the landmark Roe v. Wade precedent in federal law.” As I pointed out then, the Times did not provide a link to the legislation, perhaps to discourage readers from finding out just exactly what Democrats hoped to achieve.
The legislation was meant to preempt abortion restrictions that might stem from the overturning of Roe v. Wade. It would have allowed abortion up through nine months of pregnancy, when, “in the good-faith medical judgment of the treating health care provider, continuation of the pregnancy would pose a risk to the pregnant patient’s life or health.”
The language of the bill is vague about what might constitute a threat to the woman’s health, allowing that determination to be made by any health-care provider including a “physician, certified nurse-midwife, nurse practitioner, [or] physician assistant.” In other words, a woman claiming stress or anxiety would not even require the approval of a doctor to abort a baby at eight months.
Does anyone really approve of that? Yes — Democrats do.
The proof is that New York Democrats enacted such a law in 2019. At the time, Cardinal Timothy Dolan wrote a scathing op-ed, blasting the “grisly legislation” that would in effect allow an aborted baby to die — to put it another way, infanticide. Late-term abortions may be rare, but they exist. In 2020, according to the Charlotte Lozier Institute, there were 773 abortions in New York City performed at 21 weeks of gestation or later. Most likely, in many of those cases the fetus would have been able to survive outside the womb.
The liberal media helps Democrats mislead voters about abortion policy. After the recent election in Virginia, Time magazine wrote, “Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin promised he’d use a GOP majority to pass an abortion ban.” In fact, Youngkin promised exactly the opposite. Fending off such dishonest accusations from Democrats, Youngkin told a Wall Street Journal reporter that “questions about whether he would sign further limits were irrelevant because legislative leaders have promised not to send them to his desk.”
Democrats, needless to say, shamelessly lied about Youngkin’s position. One Democrat ad in Virginia claimed women were “facing the death penalty for having an abortion!” Another said a GOP win would put “Women and doctors in jail!” Republicans need to aggressively educate voters about this issue, and show that Democrats are not only out of step with the majority but that they are the abortion extremists
Liz Peek is a former partner of major bracket Wall Street firm Wertheim & Company. Follow her on Twitter @lizpeek.
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